Britain | First, take one live goose…

How to kill a goose quickly

Britons love to buy cookery books for Christmas. But they barely use them

AN illustration of an iPad displaying food recipes, resting against a stack of books in a kitchen.
Illustration: Mark Long

“Countryman’s Cooking” was published in Britain in 1965. It has many strengths. If you wish to know how to brain a goose, it is peerless (in brief, bludgeon it briskly). If you want to find out how to behead a pheasant or disembowel a rabbit, it is invaluable. If, however, you wish to encase these animals in a pie, it is less helpful. For its author, W.M.W. Fowler, a former bomber pilot, has this to say on pastry recipes: “I cannot help you.”

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “First, take one live goose…”

From the December 16th 2023 edition

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